Anchorage, Alaska - GeoNorth, LLC (
www.geonorth.com) an Alaskan-based firm specializing in the development of integrated solutions for end-to-end geospatial decision-making, has recently been tasked by the State of Alaska Department of Transportation (AKDOT) to apply their satellite imagery services in direct response to the Dalton Highway flood emergency.

Since early March, AKDOT crews have been fighting flood and ice overflow conditions on the northern end of the Dalton between mileposts 390 and 405. Flooding and subsequent freezing had formed ice up to 30 inches thick throughout the stretch of road, prompting Alaska Governor Bill Walker to declare a state disaster at the request of the AKDOT. On April 7th, the AKDOT contacted GeoNorth with a request for assistance to provide near real-time satellite imagery in order to help assess and monitor the flooding taking place, provide change detection, and to support overall planning activities as conditions evolved. With rapid turnaround capabilities, GeoNorth had imagery in the hands of the AKDOT on the 8th; the same day Governor Walker declared the disaster.

The AKDOT regularly relies on satellite imagery to support varying projects throughout the State. However, this critical, time-sensitive event, created the need to acquire imagery and deliver the imagery as quickly as possible. As GeoNorth is the owner/operator of a multi-mission satellite imagery Direct Receiving Station (DRS), the Anchorage-based firm was able to begin distributing imagery back to the AKDOT in less than 18 hours from original request. After realizing the immediate value GeoNorth provided with these capabilities, the AKDOT elected to have GeoNorth acquire imagery every 2-3 days through the end of April. GeoNorth is now able to effectively acquire, download, process, and deliver every image to the AKDOT within 3 hours, made possible only through GeoNorth’s DRS.

“No one wants to see these types of events take place, be them less, equally, or more destructive”, says Michael McCarthy, GeoNorth’s General Manager. “That said though, events such as this do happen, and they will happen again. It must be reassuring for State of Alaska (or any other client with emergency response needs) to know that, when assistance is needed to address emergencies or disasters, they can take a great deal of comfort in knowing they have a local, Alaskan-based resource they can count on for dependable, responsive satellite imagery and GIS-based results”.

GeoNorth, LLC, is an Alaska Native Corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of The Tatitlek Corporation located at 561 E 36th Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska. The firm specializes in such Geospatial and IT solutions as Optical and Radar Satellite Imagery Capture, Downlinks, and Dissemination and Distribution, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Database Management, Web Design and Development, and Mobile Applications. Since 1994 the firm has serviced federal, state, and local government agencies, utilities, oil and gas firms, natural resources companies, and private and Native corporations throughout the United States and abroad.